Tecno i7 Review

Transsion Holdings, which has a presence in 58 countries, made its debut in India last year with its Itel smartphone brand. Now, the company is gearing up for a major push into the Indian market with the new Tecno Mobile brand.

Transsion claims to have a market share of over 40 percent in six major African countries, and believes that its products can do well in India, one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. Tecno Mobile, a subsidiary of Transsion Holdings, recently unveiled five smartphones for India. Apart from Itel and Tecno, Transsion Holdings is also known for its Infinix brand.

The prices of these new smartphones from Tecno Mobile start at Rs. 7,990 for the Tecno i3, and go up to Rs. 14,990 for the Tecno i7. Unlike most of its competitors, Tecno will sell these new smartphones offline.

The company is hoping that the Tecno i7 will take on some of the heavyweights in the same price segment, including the Moto G5 Plus and Xiaomi Redmi Note 4. It packs some impressive features and specs including an octa-core processor, Android 7.0 Nougat, fast charging support, and a 16-megapixel front camera, but is that all that matters? We find out.

Tecno i7 design

The Tecno i7, with its metallic body, gives a solid first impression when you take it out of its box. It has curved sides, giving it an overall shape similar to that of current iPhone models. The front panel is dominated by the screen, with a fingerprint scanner embedded into the Home button just below it. At the India launch of the Tecno i7, the company claimed that it has used an 'anti-oil fingerprint sensor' which allows users to unlock smartphones even with "Indian lifestyle and weather conditions". There are capacitive Back and Overview buttons on either side of the Home button.

The power and volume keys are on the right, and have decent tactile feel. There is a hybrid dual-SIM slot on the left, and a Micro-USB port and two speaker grilles on the bottom.

The rear camera is placed in the upper left corner, with a quad-LED flash below it. There's also Tecno branding and a large "Rocket Charging" logo on the rear. There are antenna bands running across the top and bottom of the rear, making this phone look like several other budget models.

Overall, the Tecno i7 isn't bad at all in terms of design, and its solid build quality will give you confidence while using the handset every day. The phone will be going on sale in Champagne Gold, Sky Black, and Space Grey. We received a Sky Black unit for our review. It came in a standard retail box with a data cable, power adaptor, earphones, SIM ejector tool, and documents. The company is also giving buyers a complimentary transparent case and screen guard.